A great Deal of the Day comes courtesy of Contessa. I am not familiar with their line of frozen entrees, but if the others are anything like the
Shrimp & Orzo, they are on the right track!
The frozen ingredients, in a stylish black plastic bowl, thaw into a fresh flavorful meal - the shrimp remain plump and tender, with a firm texture; the broccoli florets are large enough to retain some crunch (most of the time frozen broccoli is chopped to mush), and the orzo pasta is not overcooked - it is springy to the bite. The buttery garlic herb sauce is pungent with a pleasingly intense flavor; there is not a lot of sauce, but you can still actually taste the butter and garlic.
The label photo shows the shrimp towering over the broccoli florets, truthfully it is the other way around, but the shrimp are larger than bay shrimp and taste like they were frozen fresh -- very good. My package only had three shrimp, but for 99.99 cents I am not complaining.
Everything microwaves perfectly to the right temperature - so often a frozen entree has a hot spot where one ingredient is left half frozen when you bite into it. You do need to give this entree a quick stir to blend through the butter sauce.
This delectable
Deal of the Day is the right amount for a light meal. And I am brainstorming to come up with a homemade 99 Cent Chef version - I know not everyone will be fortunate enough to find it.
On a scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give
Contessa Shrimp & Orzo a perfect 9! Definitely pick up a few of these if you find them on sale, or from your local 99c only Store (
I found mine at this location).
It would be easy to add some shrimp to this dish. I often keep a bag of cooked/peeled/deveined shrimp in my freezer. The small and medium size are a bargain and handy for adding protein to a lot of dishes. Very low in calories too. It would be easy enough to throw in a few of these when nuking the entree.
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